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And today’s dinner! A turkey taco salad and it was fantastic! Lettuce, tomato, taco sauce, reduced fat mexican blend cheese, ground turkey in taco seasoning, and light sour cream. It comes in at 11 PointsPlus and was super filling and flavorful. I’m a big fan of taco salads. So much lower in points that regular tacos and lots of servings of veggies. Perfect! Add this to Pinterest HERE!

And today’s dinner! A turkey taco salad and it was fantastic!

Lettuce, tomato, taco sauce, reduced fat mexican blend cheese, ground turkey in taco seasoning, and light sour cream.

It comes in at 11 PointsPlus and was super filling and flavorful. I’m a big fan of taco salads. So much lower in points that regular tacos and lots of servings of veggies. Perfect!

Add this to Pinterest HERE!

Today’s yummy grilled lunch! So fresh and delicious. A Trader Joe’s chile lime chicken burger with siracha sauce, avocado and tomato. On the side I had the rest of the tomato and avocado and a small zucchini. The zucchini was sprayed with coconut oil and seasoned with salt and pepper and then grilled. It was so great! And really low in PointsPlus. The whole meal came in at 11 PointsPlus and was incredibly filling. Add this to Pinterest HERE!

Today’s yummy grilled lunch! So fresh and delicious.

A Trader Joe’s chile lime chicken burger with siracha sauce, avocado and tomato. On the side I had the rest of the tomato and avocado and a small zucchini. The zucchini was sprayed with coconut oil and seasoned with salt and pepper and then grilled.

It was so great! And really low in PointsPlus. The whole meal came in at 11 PointsPlus and was incredibly filling.

Add this to Pinterest HERE!

Todays lunch courtesy of the quick service restaurant at the culinary school where I work!  Yum!  Quinoa topped with grilled asparagus, tomato, onion, goat cheese and parsley.  Yummy and filling! I also had a cup of delish tomato soup which really rounded out the meal nicely.   The whole meal came in at 12 PointsPlus and was very filling.  I think I may recreate it at home sometime soon. I want to start using quinoa more often and this was a really great meal.

Todays lunch courtesy of the quick service restaurant at the culinary school where I work!  Yum!  Quinoa topped with grilled asparagus, tomato, onion, goat cheese and parsley.  Yummy and filling! I also had a cup of delish tomato soup which really rounded out the meal nicely.  

The whole meal came in at 12 PointsPlus and was very filling.  I think I may recreate it at home sometime soon. I want to start using quinoa more often and this was a really great meal.

I grilled! Well, I tried to grill, but really I just kind of burnt things. But everything came out delicious. Jeremiah was later coming home from work than usual and then he wanted to workout before dinner. So I could either starve to death or grill my own food. Ok, that’s a bit of an exaggeration. But I was REALLY hungry! So I grilled up a Trader Joe’s chile lime chicken burger and two ears of corn. I wanted the corn to be dark but not necessarily the burger. But other than that I’m pretty proud of how it turned out! I served the burger on a low fat bun with siracha sauce, sliced tomato and 1 ounce of goat cheese for a total of 7 PointsPlus. I cut the corn off the cob and mixed in a tomato and spiced it with some fiesta lime seasoning. Such a great combo! The “salad” came in at 4 PointsPlus. It was a really great meal for 11 PointsPlus! Filling and really flavorful. And I love an ice cold glass of tea! I’m definitely a fan.

I grilled! Well, I tried to grill, but really I just kind of burnt things. But everything came out delicious.

Jeremiah was later coming home from work than usual and then he wanted to workout before dinner. So I could either starve to death or grill my own food. Ok, that’s a bit of an exaggeration. But I was REALLY hungry!

So I grilled up a Trader Joe’s chile lime chicken burger and two ears of corn. I wanted the corn to be dark but not necessarily the burger. But other than that I’m pretty proud of how it turned out!

I served the burger on a low fat bun with siracha sauce, sliced tomato and 1 ounce of goat cheese for a total of 7 PointsPlus.

I cut the corn off the cob and mixed in a tomato and spiced it with some fiesta lime seasoning. Such a great combo! The “salad” came in at 4 PointsPlus.

It was a really great meal for 11 PointsPlus! Filling and really flavorful. And I love an ice cold glass of tea! I’m definitely a fan.

Mediterranean Quinoa Salad Wow, this was a fantastic meal!  Super light and fresh and FULL of flavor! I totally plan on making this (or something similar) very often in the future. It would make a great summer salad for sure.  So, the salad I saw on SkinnyTaste last week and knew I had to make it asap. See the full recipe HERE. I love almost anything with Greek flavors so it was a perfect match.  My only hesitation was that I had never made quinoa before! Silly me.  It really wasn’t as hard as I made it my head. And my friends Chris and Laurie were over for dinner and they had quinoa experience and talked me through it.  The veggies in the salad added a great crunch to the quinoa and the lemon added a zestiness! We grilled up some pre marinated frozen chicken kabobs from Trader Joe’s and it was a perfect combo.  Add in some Panera french bread and some olive oil and we had a mediterranean feast! PointsPlus wise this meal was fantastic.  The salad comes in at 5 PointsPlus for one cup and that was actually the perfect amount.  If I didn’t have the chicken I probably would have added a half of a serving. The chicken kabobs are 3 PointsPlus each which is fantastic. I had also had two slices of french bread and 2 teaspoons of olive oil.  This whole meal, which was SUPER delicious and filling, came in at 14 PointsPlus. 

Mediterranean Quinoa Salad

Wow, this was a fantastic meal!  Super light and fresh and FULL of flavor! I totally plan on making this (or something similar) very often in the future. It would make a great summer salad for sure. 

So, the salad I saw on SkinnyTaste last week and knew I had to make it asap. See the full recipe HERE. I love almost anything with Greek flavors so it was a perfect match.  My only hesitation was that I had never made quinoa before! Silly me.  It really wasn’t as hard as I made it my head. And my friends Chris and Laurie were over for dinner and they had quinoa experience and talked me through it. 

The veggies in the salad added a great crunch to the quinoa and the lemon added a zestiness! We grilled up some pre marinated frozen chicken kabobs from Trader Joe’s and it was a perfect combo.  Add in some Panera french bread and some olive oil and we had a mediterranean feast!

PointsPlus wise this meal was fantastic.  The salad comes in at 5 PointsPlus for one cup and that was actually the perfect amount.  If I didn’t have the chicken I probably would have added a half of a serving. The chicken kabobs are 3 PointsPlus each which is fantastic. I had also had two slices of french bread and 2 teaspoons of olive oil.  This whole meal, which was SUPER delicious and filling, came in at 14 PointsPlus. 

Pizza Cups and a Simple Salad It felt so great to get back in the kitchen last night and cook!  I hadn’t realized how long it had been and the mega grocery trip I did last night really helped. I hit up both Trader Joe’s and Dominicks after work so I could refill my fridge and pantry.  I was reallllllly craving pizza yesterday.  And I knew I had two choices.  I could either a.) cave and order a super unhealthy pizza or b.) find a lower fat alternative.  Lucky for me, Emily over at Emily Bites posted a recipe just last week for Pizza Cups! Anything with built in portion control is already a step in the right direction for this girl. Add in delicious pizza goodness and I’m a happy camper.   This dinner was actually quite easy but was still super tasty and cozy.  It took no time to put the cups together and only cooked for 18 minutes.  The only thing I changed in the recipe was substituting chopped artichoke hearts and onion for the mushrooms. Doing so also saved time because I didn’t have to use and dirty a skillet!  The artichokes and onions were a great combo with the pepperoni and even Jeremiah loved them.   PointsPlus wise, this meal was surprisingly great!  Each pizza cup came to just 3 PointsPlus! I started with two but ended up going back for a third because they were so delish! By far, the best part about these was the bread/crust. It really made them taste like real pizza. The salad I made came to 3 PointsPlus and was awesome.  Baby spinach sprayed with olive oil, salt and pepper, 1 ounce of goat cheese crumbled on top and a quarter of a lemon squeezed over it all. SO GOOD!   That brought the whole meal to 12 PointsPlus!  Sooooo much better than if I had caved a ordered a pizza!

Pizza Cups and a Simple Salad

It felt so great to get back in the kitchen last night and cook!  I hadn’t realized how long it had been and the mega grocery trip I did last night really helped. I hit up both Trader Joe’s and Dominicks after work so I could refill my fridge and pantry. 

I was reallllllly craving pizza yesterday.  And I knew I had two choices.  I could either a.) cave and order a super unhealthy pizza or b.) find a lower fat alternative.  Lucky for me, Emily over at Emily Bites posted a recipe just last week for Pizza Cups! Anything with built in portion control is already a step in the right direction for this girl. Add in delicious pizza goodness and I’m a happy camper.  

This dinner was actually quite easy but was still super tasty and cozy.  It took no time to put the cups together and only cooked for 18 minutes.  The only thing I changed in the recipe was substituting chopped artichoke hearts and onion for the mushrooms. Doing so also saved time because I didn’t have to use and dirty a skillet!  The artichokes and onions were a great combo with the pepperoni and even Jeremiah loved them.  

PointsPlus wise, this meal was surprisingly great!  Each pizza cup came to just 3 PointsPlus! I started with two but ended up going back for a third because they were so delish! By far, the best part about these was the bread/crust. It really made them taste like real pizza.

The salad I made came to 3 PointsPlus and was awesome.  Baby spinach sprayed with olive oil, salt and pepper, 1 ounce of goat cheese crumbled on top and a quarter of a lemon squeezed over it all. SO GOOD!  

That brought the whole meal to 12 PointsPlus!  Sooooo much better than if I had caved a ordered a pizza!

Sometimes bar food can be healthy and delicious! I went out for drinks after work on Friday with some friends to celebrate their last day at our school. And by drinks, I mean I drank lots of soda water with lime. This Greek salad was super fresh and lovely and with the bread came in at (what I estimated to be) 14 PointsPlus. Not a bad alternative to most fried bar food options.

Sometimes bar food can be healthy and delicious! I went out for drinks after work on Friday with some friends to celebrate their last day at our school. And by drinks, I mean I drank lots of soda water with lime. This Greek salad was super fresh and lovely and with the bread came in at (what I estimated to be) 14 PointsPlus. Not a bad alternative to most fried bar food options.

Mediterranean Pasta, Butternut Squash and a Spinach Salad When Emily Bites posted her most recent recipe (see it HERE!) I knew immediately that I had to try it as soon as possible! As a Greek, I love almost all Greek foods and flavors.  I also LOVE pasta. The recipe was a must!   And let me tell you…..this was so incredibly delicious! It was warm and cozy with lovely Greek flavors but not super heavy in sauce.  I did make a couple changes to the recipe, but nothing major. I left out the sun dried tomatoes because I really hate them…..a lot.  They definitely make the recipe look prettier, but I just added a bit more artichokes and olives.  I also used wheat flour and almond milk instead of regular flour and skim milk simply because that is what I had on hand.  The wheat flour changed the color of the sauce a bit but it still tasted great.   The sides I served with the pasta were delicious as well!  I roasted some butternut squash that I bought pre-cut from Trader Joe’s.  It saves SO much time and effort!  I sprayed the squash with a little olive oil and seasoned it with salt and pepper.  It cooked for about 25 minutes in a 400 degree oven (I flipped it a couple times to get more crispy sides!)  I also had a simple and yummy spinach salad!  Baby spinach, heirloom cherry tomatoes and goat cheese topped with some fresh squeezed lemon juice, a spray of olive oil and salt and pepper.  Light, fresh, flavorful and super delicious! I could eat this salad all day, every day!  Points wise, this meal was not too bad.  The pasta comes in at 9 PointsPlus per 1.25 cup serving.  I counted 1 PointsPlus of olive oil between the salad and the squash because I went really light on both of them.  And I used 2 PointsPlus worth of goat cheese.  So the whole meal came in at 12 PointsPlus!  And everything was super filling!  Plenty of protein from the chicken and lots of veggies!   Check back tomorrow for info on my current love…..TEA! 

Mediterranean Pasta, Butternut Squash and a Spinach Salad

When Emily Bites posted her most recent recipe (see it HERE!) I knew immediately that I had to try it as soon as possible! As a Greek, I love almost all Greek foods and flavors.  I also LOVE pasta. The recipe was a must!  

And let me tell you…..this was so incredibly delicious! It was warm and cozy with lovely Greek flavors but not super heavy in sauce.  I did make a couple changes to the recipe, but nothing major. I left out the sun dried tomatoes because I really hate them…..a lot.  They definitely make the recipe look prettier, but I just added a bit more artichokes and olives.  I also used wheat flour and almond milk instead of regular flour and skim milk simply because that is what I had on hand.  The wheat flour changed the color of the sauce a bit but it still tasted great.  

The sides I served with the pasta were delicious as well!  I roasted some butternut squash that I bought pre-cut from Trader Joe’s.  It saves SO much time and effort!  I sprayed the squash with a little olive oil and seasoned it with salt and pepper.  It cooked for about 25 minutes in a 400 degree oven (I flipped it a couple times to get more crispy sides!) 

I also had a simple and yummy spinach salad!  Baby spinach, heirloom cherry tomatoes and goat cheese topped with some fresh squeezed lemon juice, a spray of olive oil and salt and pepper.  Light, fresh, flavorful and super delicious! I could eat this salad all day, every day! 

Points wise, this meal was not too bad.  The pasta comes in at 9 PointsPlus per 1.25 cup serving.  I counted 1 PointsPlus of olive oil between the salad and the squash because I went really light on both of them.  And I used 2 PointsPlus worth of goat cheese.  So the whole meal came in at 12 PointsPlus!  And everything was super filling!  Plenty of protein from the chicken and lots of veggies!  

Check back tomorrow for info on my current love…..TEA! 

Bacon and Apple Brussels Sprouts Goodness gracious I have become obsessed with brussels sprouts! I’ve been having them a lot at restaurants but hadn’t ventured into cooking them myself until the other night.  We had friends over for dinner and wanted a side dish that was healthy and delicious to go with the chicken parmesan casserole that I was making as the main course.    This recipe could not be easier! Check it out HERE.  I found a similar recipe that called for using a saute pan and having to stand near the stove but this recipe was all in the oven and super easy!  I did adjust the temps a little bit because I was cooking the casserole at the same time but it wasn’t a problem for either.  The bacon added so much flavor and the apples added a nice light crunchiness.  The recipe called for red wine vinegar, but honestly, the next time I make this I’m not going to bother. It didn’t add anything noticeable.  I did spray the brussels sprouts with a little olive oil to help them brown up a bit. When I was grocery shopping I had a great idea . I wanted to buy real bacon (not turkey bacon) but I only needed three slices. I knew that I would end up with a ton of leftovers which I would either throw away or worse, eat.  But then I noticed the meat counter at my local grocery store had delicious cherry smoked bacon and I could buy exactly the amount I needed!  So for $1.50 I got really great tasting bacon (instead of the meh Oscar Meyer stuff) and no leftovers.  Perfect!  Points wise this was the perfect side dish. Really filling for not too many points.  If you plug it into the recipe builder it comes out to 3 PointsPlus a serving. If you do 0 PointsPlus veggies, then I would count it as 1 PointsPlus.  Either way, I’m happy! Add this to Pinterest HERE! 

Bacon and Apple Brussels Sprouts

Goodness gracious I have become obsessed with brussels sprouts! I’ve been having them a lot at restaurants but hadn’t ventured into cooking them myself until the other night.  We had friends over for dinner and wanted a side dish that was healthy and delicious to go with the chicken parmesan casserole that I was making as the main course.   

This recipe could not be easier! Check it out HERE.  I found a similar recipe that called for using a saute pan and having to stand near the stove but this recipe was all in the oven and super easy!  I did adjust the temps a little bit because I was cooking the casserole at the same time but it wasn’t a problem for either. 

The bacon added so much flavor and the apples added a nice light crunchiness.  The recipe called for red wine vinegar, but honestly, the next time I make this I’m not going to bother. It didn’t add anything noticeable.  I did spray the brussels sprouts with a little olive oil to help them brown up a bit.

When I was grocery shopping I had a great idea . I wanted to buy real bacon (not turkey bacon) but I only needed three slices. I knew that I would end up with a ton of leftovers which I would either throw away or worse, eat.  But then I noticed the meat counter at my local grocery store had delicious cherry smoked bacon and I could buy exactly the amount I needed!  So for $1.50 I got really great tasting bacon (instead of the meh Oscar Meyer stuff) and no leftovers.  Perfect! 

Points wise this was the perfect side dish. Really filling for not too many points.  If you plug it into the recipe builder it comes out to 3 PointsPlus a serving. If you do 0 PointsPlus veggies, then I would count it as 1 PointsPlus.  Either way, I’m happy!

Add this to Pinterest HERE! 

I had another great shopping trip to Trader Joe’s last night and this time Jeremiah joined me!  I had a list of stuff I needed but I was having a brain fart about dinner.  Luckily Jeremiah spotted something in the freezer section and saved the day! These frozen marinated chipotle chicken skewers were fantastic! Jeremiah and I both agreed that we would be buying them again.  The package came with 6 pre-marinated chicken skewers that we grilled frozen. (I hate when I have to defrost something because I never remember and it just dies in my freezer.) One skewer came in at 2 PointsPlus but two came in at 5 PointsPlus and three came in at 8 PointsPlus. I still thought that was a pretty good deal for yummy chicken that took minimal preparation.  On the side we had brown rice and frozen sweet corn.  Both also came from Trader Joe’s, but from a previous trip.  This meal was easy to prepare, low in PointsPlus and super filling. If I had had an afternoon snack like I usually do, I would only have eaten two skewers.  The whole meal came in at 15 PointsPlus! Can’t beat that!  

I had another great shopping trip to Trader Joe’s last night and this time Jeremiah joined me!  I had a list of stuff I needed but I was having a brain fart about dinner.  Luckily Jeremiah spotted something in the freezer section and saved the day!

These frozen marinated chipotle chicken skewers were fantastic! Jeremiah and I both agreed that we would be buying them again.  The package came with 6 pre-marinated chicken skewers that we grilled frozen. (I hate when I have to defrost something because I never remember and it just dies in my freezer.) One skewer came in at 2 PointsPlus but two came in at 5 PointsPlus and three came in at 8 PointsPlus. I still thought that was a pretty good deal for yummy chicken that took minimal preparation. 

On the side we had brown rice and frozen sweet corn.  Both also came from Trader Joe’s, but from a previous trip. 

This meal was easy to prepare, low in PointsPlus and super filling. If I had had an afternoon snack like I usually do, I would only have eaten two skewers.  The whole meal came in at 15 PointsPlus! Can’t beat that!  

Crock Pot Sesame Honey Chicken  Yum-o!  Seriously, this was delicious and super easy!  I saw THIS recipe on Skinnytaste the other day and immediately put it on my to-do list.   The only reason it took so long for me to make it was the short cooking time.  Well, short for a crock pot recipe.  I like to find recipes that cook for at least 8 hours so I can have it cooking while I’m at work. This recipe has a four hour cook time on low so I had to do it on a weekend.  It made for a PERFECT Sunday evening meal, especially on a cold and rainy day like yesterday.  The chicken had such awesome flavor. It was spicy but not overpoweringly so.  We had extra sriracha sauce on the table for those who wanted more bite.   And it was super filling! The serving size is 2/3 cup for 4 PointsPlus and I thought there was no way that would be enough food (with one cup of brown rice).  But it totally was!  I was STUFFED with just the one serving. I also served sweet corn as a side which was a great addition.   The meal came in great PointsPlus wise.  Like I said, the chicken was 4 PointsPlus and that was super filling.  I had one cup of brown rice (5 PointsPlus) and 1/2 cup sweet corn (2 PointsPlus) for a total of 11 PointsPlus! I had pretracked my meal so not having two servings opened up 5 PointsPlus (1 serving was 4 but 2 servings was 9…I hate when that happens!).  I ended up having a Weight Watchers Dark Chocolate Raspberry Bar as well as a shot of Rumchata over ice.  Yum! 

Crock Pot Sesame Honey Chicken 

Yum-o!  Seriously, this was delicious and super easy!  I saw THIS recipe on Skinnytaste the other day and immediately put it on my to-do list.  

The only reason it took so long for me to make it was the short cooking time.  Well, short for a crock pot recipe.  I like to find recipes that cook for at least 8 hours so I can have it cooking while I’m at work. This recipe has a four hour cook time on low so I had to do it on a weekend.  It made for a PERFECT Sunday evening meal, especially on a cold and rainy day like yesterday. 

The chicken had such awesome flavor. It was spicy but not overpoweringly so.  We had extra sriracha sauce on the table for those who wanted more bite.  

And it was super filling! The serving size is 2/3 cup for 4 PointsPlus and I thought there was no way that would be enough food (with one cup of brown rice).  But it totally was!  I was STUFFED with just the one serving. I also served sweet corn as a side which was a great addition.  

The meal came in great PointsPlus wise.  Like I said, the chicken was 4 PointsPlus and that was super filling.  I had one cup of brown rice (5 PointsPlus) and 1/2 cup sweet corn (2 PointsPlus) for a total of 11 PointsPlus!

I had pretracked my meal so not having two servings opened up 5 PointsPlus (1 serving was 4 but 2 servings was 9…I hate when that happens!).  I ended up having a Weight Watchers Dark Chocolate Raspberry Bar as well as a shot of Rumchata over ice.  Yum! 

Dinner courtesy of Trader Joe’s! I stopped at TJ’s on my way home from work last night and boy was it a fun adventure!  I can’t get over how low the prices are and how AWESOME the products are.  Amazing.  Love love love.  So, I basically bought out the store.  And I’m so glad I did!  We had a delicious dinner with all of the yums I brought home.  A while back one of you awesome readers (forgive me, I can’t remember who it was!!) suggested I try the Trader Joe’s Chile Lime Chicken Burgers.  You. Were. Right!  SO delish!  Jeremiah and I officially kicked off grill season a couple weeks ago and he is totally loving being able to grill again.  I picked up some frozen kobe beef burgers for him which he also loved.   I served the burger on a wheat bun (also from TJs) and half of an avocado. SO GOOD!  As a side I had the most delicious baked sweet potato with a tablespoon of light butter and some cajun seasonings.  I also had those delicious fresh veggies that I got on my shopping adventure as well.  Yum yum!  Sugar snap peas, cherry tomatoes, baby carrots and jicama.   The whole meal came in at 13 PointsPlus!  And it was filling and delicious.  I’m in love.  And look at all that color!

Dinner courtesy of Trader Joe’s!

I stopped at TJ’s on my way home from work last night and boy was it a fun adventure!  I can’t get over how low the prices are and how AWESOME the products are.  Amazing.  Love love love. 

So, I basically bought out the store.  And I’m so glad I did!  We had a delicious dinner with all of the yums I brought home. 

A while back one of you awesome readers (forgive me, I can’t remember who it was!!) suggested I try the Trader Joe’s Chile Lime Chicken Burgers.  You. Were. Right!  SO delish!  Jeremiah and I officially kicked off grill season a couple weeks ago and he is totally loving being able to grill again.  I picked up some frozen kobe beef burgers for him which he also loved.  

I served the burger on a wheat bun (also from TJs) and half of an avocado. SO GOOD!  As a side I had the most delicious baked sweet potato with a tablespoon of light butter and some cajun seasonings.  I also had those delicious fresh veggies that I got on my shopping adventure as well.  Yum yum!  Sugar snap peas, cherry tomatoes, baby carrots and jicama.  

The whole meal came in at 13 PointsPlus!  And it was filling and delicious.  I’m in love.  And look at all that color!

Skinny Spinach & Artichoke Chicken Can we just have a round of applause for Emily Bites?  No really, she is fantastic.  I love her recipes so much!  They are easy and delicious.  And here is another winner! Click HERE for the original recipe.  This chicken tastes amazing. It basically smothers the chicken with one of my favorite warm dips! It almost reminds me of spanakopita (spinach pie), one of my all time favorite Greek meals. Speaking of which, I’m going to try and adapt this recipe the next time I make it to get more of that Greek flavor! Anyway, it was super simple to pull together. I used chicken tenders instead of breasts because that is what I had in my fridge. I used my food processor to chop the onions and artichoke which definitely cut down on the time.   The only thing I wish I had done differently was to really dry out the spinach.  I squeezed a lot of moisture out, but it wasn’t quite enough because there was a lot of liquid at the bottom of the pan at the end.  It wasn’t too big of a deal and I just used a slotted spatula to lift out the pieces and most of the water drained out.   As a side dish I served sweet potato halves.  I microwaved them instead of baking because I decided at the last minute what my side dish would be.  Add in 1 tablespoon of light whipped butter and a sprinkling of cinnamon sugar mixture and you have a delicious side dish! PointsPlus wise, this meal was great.  The recipe says that one serving is 1/8th of the pan and comes in at 6 PointsPlus.  I accidentally read the recipe wrong and cut the pan into 6ths.  This actually was a great portion size and only added 2 PointsPlus for a total of 8 PointsPlus per serving.  And the sweet potato I ate was only 2 PointsPlus (I didn’t eat the skin so I weighed it before I ate it and then weighed the skin again at the end and subtracted the difference.)  Add in 1 PointsPlus for the butter and I had a lovely 11 PointsPlus meal!  You should go make this recipe right away.  And you can thank me (and of course Emily) later! Add this to Pinterest HERE!

Skinny Spinach & Artichoke Chicken

Can we just have a round of applause for Emily Bites?  No really, she is fantastic.  I love her recipes so much!  They are easy and delicious.  And here is another winner! Click HERE for the original recipe. 

This chicken tastes amazing. It basically smothers the chicken with one of my favorite warm dips! It almost reminds me of spanakopita (spinach pie), one of my all time favorite Greek meals. Speaking of which, I’m going to try and adapt this recipe the next time I make it to get more of that Greek flavor!

Anyway, it was super simple to pull together. I used chicken tenders instead of breasts because that is what I had in my fridge. I used my food processor to chop the onions and artichoke which definitely cut down on the time.  

The only thing I wish I had done differently was to really dry out the spinach.  I squeezed a lot of moisture out, but it wasn’t quite enough because there was a lot of liquid at the bottom of the pan at the end.  It wasn’t too big of a deal and I just used a slotted spatula to lift out the pieces and most of the water drained out.  

As a side dish I served sweet potato halves.  I microwaved them instead of baking because I decided at the last minute what my side dish would be.  Add in 1 tablespoon of light whipped butter and a sprinkling of cinnamon sugar mixture and you have a delicious side dish!

PointsPlus wise, this meal was great.  The recipe says that one serving is 1/8th of the pan and comes in at 6 PointsPlus.  I accidentally read the recipe wrong and cut the pan into 6ths.  This actually was a great portion size and only added 2 PointsPlus for a total of 8 PointsPlus per serving.  And the sweet potato I ate was only 2 PointsPlus (I didn’t eat the skin so I weighed it before I ate it and then weighed the skin again at the end and subtracted the difference.)  Add in 1 PointsPlus for the butter and I had a lovely 11 PointsPlus meal! 

You should go make this recipe right away.  And you can thank me (and of course Emily) later!

Add this to Pinterest HERE!

Skinny Chicken Cordon Bleu Gina over at Skinnytaste posted this recipe last week and I immediately knew I had to make it! This is a rehab of one of her old recipes which I had made a while back. She definitely improved upon it and made it much easier!  The old recipe used full chicken breasts while this recipe used thin cutlets.  She also eliminated the use of toothpicks which saved SO much time! So, the chicken took a little longer to put together than I had planned, but in the grand scheme of cooking, it really didn’t take long at all.  And I was able to prep the sides while the chicken was cooking.   Speaking of sides, I served this with cauliflower poppers and couscous.  Hindsight is 20/20 and I wish that I hadn’t used all white foods!  Even though the cauliflower is a veggie, a plate full of white just isn’t pretty. That being said, the white sides were delish! I had pinned THIS recipe a while back for cauliflower poppers and was excited to try it.  I modified it a bit and just used salt free Creole spices  instead of the recommended spices.  Good decision!  The spices were nice and spicy against the not-so-flavorful cauliflower!   I also made a box of couscous which was really yummy as well.  I accidentally picked up the wrong box though so it wasn’t exactly what I had planned for.  Whoops!  I got the pearl couscous which I don’t like as much as the semolina couscous. It also takes longer to cook so that threw me off a bit.   Jeremiah, Laurie and I all LOVED this meal!  The chicken was awe some and the sides were tasty! The chicken cordon bleu comes in at 8 PointsPlus per serving.  Lucky for us, a serving size is two pieces of chicken!  The cauliflower was 0 PointsPlus (holla!) and the couscous was 3 PointsPlus for a half a cup.   11 PointsPlus for the really delicious meal!  

Skinny Chicken Cordon Bleu

Gina over at Skinnytaste posted this recipe last week and I immediately knew I had to make it! This is a rehab of one of her old recipes which I had made a while back. She definitely improved upon it and made it much easier!  The old recipe used full chicken breasts while this recipe used thin cutlets.  She also eliminated the use of toothpicks which saved SO much time!

So, the chicken took a little longer to put together than I had planned, but in the grand scheme of cooking, it really didn’t take long at all.  And I was able to prep the sides while the chicken was cooking.  

Speaking of sides, I served this with cauliflower poppers and couscous.  Hindsight is 20/20 and I wish that I hadn’t used all white foods!  Even though the cauliflower is a veggie, a plate full of white just isn’t pretty.

That being said, the white sides were delish! I had pinned THIS recipe a while back for cauliflower poppers and was excited to try it.  I modified it a bit and just used salt free Creole spices  instead of the recommended spices.  Good decision!  The spices were nice and spicy against the not-so-flavorful cauliflower!  

I also made a box of couscous which was really yummy as well.  I accidentally picked up the wrong box though so it wasn’t exactly what I had planned for.  Whoops!  I got the pearl couscous which I don’t like as much as the semolina couscous. It also takes longer to cook so that threw me off a bit.  

Jeremiah, Laurie and I all LOVED this meal!  The chicken was awe some and the sides were tasty! The chicken cordon bleu comes in at 8 PointsPlus per serving.  Lucky for us, a serving size is two pieces of chicken!  The cauliflower was 0 PointsPlus (holla!) and the couscous was 3 PointsPlus for a half a cup.  

11 PointsPlus for the really delicious meal!  

Last night Jeremiah and I officially kicked off our grilling season! We were both craving burgers so he picked up at propane refill and made it happen. Who cares if our balcony was covered in snow?! Not us! (And the heat from the grill melted it away anyway!) He had a lean beef burger but I chose to have a spicy chipotle black bean burger. We bought a bunch of them from Costco last year and I really love them. I had my burger on a Healthy Life bun with a slice of 2% provolone cheese and some spicy pico de gallo. So many wonderful spicy flavors! It was really delicious. Not pictured is a serving of Popchips and a single serving of hummus with baby carrots. Yum yum! The burger is 5 PointsPlus plus 2 for the bun and 1 for the cheese for a total of 8 PointsPlus.

Last night Jeremiah and I officially kicked off our grilling season! We were both craving burgers so he picked up at propane refill and made it happen. Who cares if our balcony was covered in snow?! Not us! (And the heat from the grill melted it away anyway!)

He had a lean beef burger but I chose to have a spicy chipotle black bean burger. We bought a bunch of them from Costco last year and I really love them. I had my burger on a Healthy Life bun with a slice of 2% provolone cheese and some spicy pico de gallo. So many wonderful spicy flavors! It was really delicious. Not pictured is a serving of Popchips and a single serving of hummus with baby carrots. Yum yum!

The burger is 5 PointsPlus plus 2 for the bun and 1 for the cheese for a total of 8 PointsPlus.